Before you started a career in real estate, you might have not realized how much variety there is when it comes to buying a home. Now that you’re in it for the long haul, you should learn about the different types of real estate and try to narrow your focus into one specialty and focus on the niche details that will make you an expert in your region.

Vacant Land

Typically reserved for developers and farmers, vacant land sales are usually quite large and come with equally sized commissions. However, it’s important to note that lot and land buyers are much different than homebuyers. A homebuyer will want something that’s ready to move into, and a land buyer will generally be looking for something in the right location that can be customized to fit their needs.

It’s important to note that the market for land sales is much less active than any of the other real estate markets. Land sales will take much longer than typical sales— so be patient, and try not to get discouraged.

Residential Properties

Far and away the most popular market for real estate agents to enter. One of the main draws to residential sales is the amount of variety that come with the different markets. You can specialize in condominiums, duplexes, investment properties, vacation homes, etc. This gets split up even further when you consider location. For example, if you are mostly interested in selling vacation homes, the types of properties you’d sell the Florida Keys would be much different than the kind that you would encounter in Lake Tahoe.

Residential sales offer a lot of opportunity and a bustling market that is rich with possibilities.

Commercial Sales

Compared to the other two, commercial sales are almost another beast entirely. Commercial real estate covers everything from shopping centers and strip malls to hotels and offices. Even many apartment buildings are considered commercial, even though they are technically used residentially. Since commercial property is used to make money for the owner, there are a lot of factors to consider when evaluating the total property value— income potential, historical revenue and cash flow among many other considerations.

Unless you are remarkably experienced with business valuation, you probably may want to stick to your career in land and residential properties. This is due to the complex nature of of valuation that lenders, buyers and sellers use to qualify funding and it is generally an entirely different process.

No matter which market you decide to enter when forging your career in real estate, it is very important to arm yourself with the best technology possible. A real estate CRM that is hooked up to a customized IDX website will help you automate lead importing, scoring, and even lead nurturing efforts through drip campaigns, allowing you to focus on leads further in your pipeline.